20 Truths
by punnylove
Summary: Finally updated-20 Truths about Buriram Tourakom!
1. Alanna of Trebond

_Suggestions about the next character welcomed._

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Alanna<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong> She doesn't have the near-perfect memory for spells that her twin has, but she remembers her mother's face in perfect detail. She knows that it's impossible for her to have caught more than a glimpse of the woman who died bearing them, but she likes to think that perhaps the Great Mother is allowing her earthly mother to get through to her from—wherever.

**2. **She loves her father until he hits Thom for refusing to train with Coram. When she sees the bruise on her brother's cheek something in her snaps and she hisses, _"I hate you."_

**3. **Yes, she knows she looks like her mother. Yes, she knows it hurt him more than any other thing could when she spat out those words. No, she doesn't care.

**4. **She and Thom aren't so close because they're twins—she's known plenty of twins who hate each other—but because there was no one else to fill the gap their parents left them with.

**5. **She'll never admit it, but Coram was her first crush.

**6. **Gary was her second.

**7. **She stops being afraid of spiders after she meets Duke Roger. Somehow, she knows that the handsome man with the smiling eyes is far more dangerous than an ugly bug. (This, however, does not mean she wants to see, touch, or _experience _the insect in any way.)

**8. **It made her feel warm inside when she realized her friends beat up Ralon for her. (Despite hating the thought that they might think her too weak to defend herself, she'd never really had that many people who cared enough to defend her before.)

**9. **When she thinks of the day she killed Duke Roger, (the first time), all she can remember is the fact that, for one agonizing second, _everyone _at court had been gawking at her chest. She still blushes when she thinks about it.

**10. **She doesn't realize Jon loves her—really loves her—until he offers to marry her after meeting Thayet. She realizes George loves her the moment he tells her so. Perhaps that should have told her something when she was struggling between the two.

**11. **She's been asked whether Coram or Myles is her real father. She hasn't figured out the answer yet.

**12. **It was never a question what her firstborn would be named.

**13. **After she became Lady of Pirates Swoop, she started going out into her fief in a peasant dress and a shawl to cover up her hair. She starts carrying a knife after some drunk tries to smash her head in for her purse. George almost dies laughing when she grumbles about the fact that she's faced monsters, (human and immortal), and yet she was almost killed by a mortal lout who was at least three feet lying down. Then, he starts sending his people to shadow his wife when she goes out to meet her people.

**14. **Raoul and Gary turn beat red after she loses her temper at their hesitance and yells at them to "_take _of their bloody shirts already, she's already _seen _them naked before, and she'll be _damned _if she lets her friends die because they're too embarrassed to let her see them naked." They strip anyway.

**15. **She still cries when she thinks about Faithful—but maybe she'll get another cat. Someday.

**16. **Once, during their lovemaking, George calls her "Kitten." When Alan and Alianne are born nine months later, Alanna can't quite explain why she expected them to have Liam Ironarm's eyes and features.

**17. **She loves George with all her heart, but sometimes she catches Jonathan watching her and can't help wondering if the wistful look in his eyes is mirrored in hers.

**18. **Every year, on that one special day, Alanna visits the palace healers and assists their always overworked staff in remembrance of the quiet boy she didn't save when she was a page.

**19. **She still hates Duke Roger with all her heart—but whenever she remembers Alex, all she feels is sadness. He'd basically gotten her through Mathematics, and once, she caught him quietly telling a rude Squire, (this was when they were all pages), that he _really _didn't like people making crass insinuations about his friends.

**20. **People ask her what she would change if she had a chance to relive the past, and Alanna can never quite answer. She wishes she'd saved Francis, but then she might not have had the energy to save Jonathan. She'd save Liam—but then Roger would have won. Once, she almost says that she wishes she'd built a better relationship with Aly, but that would be selfish, for her daughter would never have found her mate, her home, and her calling if she'd been happy at home. She settles for saying that she'd have gone to a private saloon to get her ear-bobs. Thayet hasn't stopped teasing her about them yet.


	2. Raoul of Goldenlake

_Written for my first reviewer, MeepaHorsegirl, who requested Raoul. Hope you enjoy this!_

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Raoul<strong>

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><p>1. Raoul was born to a father who told him to be proud of his bigness and a mother who taught him to sew and dance to prove that he wasn't all muscle. He doesn't truly understand how lucky he is until he becomes a page and realizes that not everyone has such loving parents.<p>

2. The first time he meets Gareth the Younger, Gary's trying to filch an apple tart while flattering the pretty maidservant. Raoul's so busy watching he accidentally knocks some pans over, and while he and the maidservant are picking it up he catches Gary escaping with the tarts from the corner of his eye. The boy plops down next to him the next day in Mathematics and introduces himself, and they become fast friends after that.

3. People are always asking whether Raoul has younger siblings. He doesn't, he just can't stand to see the small getting picked on. It's why he enjoys beating up Ralon so much—Alan isn't the first boy the older page has singled out.

4. It's assumed that Jonathan holds together the elite group of pages who would later become the most powerful men in Tortall, but Raoul is the one who befriends dark-eyed Alex and pale, fair Francis. He's also the one who cries when the two die within a decade of each other.

5. The only time he's ever resented Jonathan being the Crown Prince is when the younger boy pulls rank and claims Alan as his squire.

6. He never suspected Alan was a girl. Never. Trying to process it all makes his head hurt, so he just accepts that "Alan" is now Alanna and treats her accordingly.

7. Gary's the new Prime Minister, Jon's going to be King, and Alanna's out being a legend—but Raoul's perfectly happy protecting his kingdom the old-fashioned way. If that means using some untraditional methods—such as staying with the Bahzir for a year or two—then so be it.

8. When people ask him whether he whips the King's Own into shape through _ahem, _unsavory methods, he smiles, shrugs, and says that if they'd bothered to do something useful with their lives, they wouldn't need to ask. This tends to make said people splutter and stop nosing around his business.

9. He'd be lying if he said that he didn't take on Keladry partly due to Alanna's pleading, but by the second week, he wouldn't trade her for any squire in the world. She's the only one who's ever managed to call him a "very bad man" with perfectly serious features and smiling hazel eyes.

10. Many have tried to persuade him to take just one drink, but every time Raoul sees liquor, all he can think about is the terrified face of the little girl cradling the bleeding head of her father while he tried in vain to revive his favorite horse. The Player he injured healed, his horse did not, and by the end of it all Raoul promised himself he would never touch the drink again. He's broken his vow only a few times.

11. One of them leads to him led to him waking up to a very naked Buri and the screaming of the Lord of Stone Mountain. After he drives the man out and returns to his tent, he's not quite sure what to say to the second-in-command of the greatest rivals of the King's Own—who happens to be climbing back into his bed. Finally, he decides to just go join her, and when she presses closer, he thinks that perhaps the drink isn't that bad after all.

12. The proudest moment of his life is when Keladry finally unhorses Lord Wyldon. She's been a knight for almost five years and he's close to retirement, but when Wyldon goes flying Raoul leaps out of his seat and whoops like a boy. He then very calmly collects the twelve golden pieces he's just won from the group of stuffy conservatives behind him.

13. When he hears gossip about his former squire and a certain blue-eyed sergeant, he takes Dom aside to give him a strict talking to about what parts of his body would never be whole again if he hurt the Lady Knight. Then he claps the younger man on the shoulder and wishes him luck in his courting.

14. He wants children, lots of them, but with Buri unofficially leading the Queen's Riders and him leading the King's Own, he settles for the single child Buri gives birth to. She's the apple of his eye in a week, and even first couple months of nonstop crying seems lovely to his ears. Then, Rya grow up and he finds that leading a group of fit, muscular young men makes acting as the protective father a bit difficult.

15. He knows it's hypocritical not to want his daughter to be the legend her parents, godmothers, and godfathers are, but does Rya really need to disappear for two years and emerge as the new Shang Dragons? Couldn't she have done something a little less dangerous, like taken up archery?

16. On certain days every year, he visits graves. At first it's just leaving flowers at Francis' gravestone and the rough marker that is Alex' burying place, but then it's his parents' tombs and his mens' graves and there's too many for him to think about without going insane. So instead, he takes one day every month to just stand aside and remember all the men who've died under his leadership, and tries his best to think about those lives they saved in the process.

17. He still can't believe that Buri married him. She's the Queen's best friend and protector, a powerful woman in her own right, and certainly doesn't lack for suitors—but it's _him_ she's looking at with love in her eyes and _his _babes she's born.

18. Social functions become a lot less annoying after he starts challenging those who backhandedly insult him to jousting matches.

19. The hardest thing he's ever had to do is give away his only daughter to another man. He takes a little comfort in knowing that at least she'd be happy—even if the man she'd chosen _was_ a Scanran prince he'd only just learned to trust.

20. Sometimes, he drops in on Alanna, or Gary, or Jonathan, and they talk about old times, laugh about new ones, and let their various burdens fall from their shoulders for just a few moments. Raoul especially likes it when Jonathan makes a stupid comment, Alanna smacks him over the head, and all he and Gary can do is look at each other and laugh.


	3. Thom of Trebond

_Taking requests for next person._

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Thom<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong> He loves his father. That's why it hurts so much when he realizes that he'll never know him, and that while his mom was forced from him by death, his father chose to leave him out of grief. He envies Alanna sometimes because she's able to hate him, and yet he never stops longing for the Lord of Trebond to look at him with affection in his eyes.

**2. **The first time he did magic was an accident. Alanna had persuaded him to sneak out and the twin six-year olds had been cornered by bandits intent on murdering them for the sake of their fine clothes. Alanna, a fighter even as a child, attacked the biggest bandit, and Thom felt his body _react_ as he saw the blade coming down on his sister's head. Mercifully, he didn't kill anyone, but the flash of his Gift was so bright that none of the bandits would ever see again.

**3. **He knows that Alanna plan will work, because the night of the switch the Great Mother Goddess comes to him and informs him that his sister is her chosen. He thinks she's trying to reassure him until he raises Duke Roger from the dead. Then, watching the darkness in the man, (and himself) shift and coil, he wonders if it was a warning.

**4. **Duke Roger tries to turn him against his sister once. Thom locks him in his study and doesn't visit him for a week, and by the time he returns the Duke knows better than to turn one Trebond twin against another. Somewhere deep inside, Thom knows that he's just sealed his own death, because before that moment the Duke had a reason to keep him alive**. **He doesn't care.

**5. **When rumors start to crop up around the Crown Prince and his squire, Thom disobeys the Masters' specific orders to pay Prince Jonathan of Conte a special visit, the gist of which involved him explaining just how much pain he could inflict on the other man without leaving a mark. He smiles as he says it. When the rumors don't stop, he grudgingly admits that perhaps the Prince isn't as weak of character as he first thought.

**6. **The first thought that enters his mind when he sees his sister is, "_she hasn't changed_." The second is that he can barely recognize her. Physically, she's grown only a couple inches taller, her hair was still cropped short, and her body was disguised to look like a boy's. However, there was a fire in her eyes where there had only been sparks and she carried herself with the lithe grace of a person who knew who she was and where she was going.

"She's grown up without me," he thinks, and it hurts, because they'd never left each other behind before.

**7. **He almost leaps in to fight by her side when Duke Roger starts using magic, but he's seen the hatred in her eyes when she's talked about the Duke and he knows that this is her fight. Still, when her secret is (quite embarrassingly) revealed in front of the whole court, he steps in because after all, he's still her brother.

**8. **She disappears for two years and he's alone, completely _alone _for the first time. He has no friends, no masters, no new sorceries to keep him busy—and perhaps that is why Delia's challenge piques his interest. Perhaps he didn't truly think he could accomplish the deed—perhaps he just wanted to bring Alanna home and knew this was the quickest way. Whatever the reason, Thom is indeed the one to raise Duke Roger from his Sorcerer's Sleep, and he refuses to take anything but the full blame.

Then again, he's dead, so it doesn't really matter to him one way or the other.

**9. **Duke Roger is his sister's sworn enemy, and he has enough faith in her, (and him), to know that neither Delia, Josephine, nor even Alex stand a chance in getting in the way of their final confrontation. That's the only reason why he doesn't kill them after he catches them plotting against his sister.

**10. **He likes Faithful, always has, but he informs the Immortal that if he fails to protect his sister, Thom will find a way to track him down and skin him like the animal he's impersonating. He can't tell if the cat is laughing at him or nodding in respect after he finishes.

**11. **He finds it hilarious that _his _sister manages to fall in love with and be loved by the Crown Prince, the Shang Dragon, _and_ the King of Thieves. Then again, she is _his _sister.

**12. **Once, he has a nightmare that leaves him sweat-soaked and his voice hoarse from screaming. The Duke informs him that he was screaming his sister's name, and enquires if the dream had been about Alanna getting killed. Thom shakes his head, but doesn't explain. There are worse fates than death.

**13. **Thom's worst fear is that one day, he'll be cold-eyed and emotionless like his father, and he'll hate Alanna for being happy.

**14. **He's never had a good relationship with Coram, but he does summon up the nerve to go thank his old teacher for taking care of his sister so well. He doesn't return the hug that Coram pulls him into, but he doesn't push away either.

**15. **He really likes George and he hopes his sister marries him and has lots of half-crooked babies. Lying in bed with an inner sickness tearing his body apart, he doesn't think he'll ever see it happen.

**16. **His dying thought is that he's never seen his father smile at him, not even once. And then he realizes that there's a bright figure walking towards him and that he's half-sure it isn't the Black God.

**17. **The only time he's ever cried in front of a woman other than Alanna was when the Great Mother Goddess granted him guardianship over his sister as a spirit. He's not sure why she does it—but it's enough that she does.

**18. **He did _not _hope she'd name her firstborn after him. He just hoped she wouldn't name it anything awkward totally inappropriate, like _Liam_, or _Jonathan. _Still—he wasn't complaining that his namesake turned out to be one of the most brilliant mages of his generation.

**19. **He cries for his father after he dies, because he knows what it's like to pass away alone, and as much as his father hurt him with his silence—he never wanted to see the man experience the same thing he did.

**20. **What he couldn't do his life he manages in death—for as he watches Alanna live, love, and laugh with her friends and family, he learns to love them as well.


	4. Beka Cooper

_Written for Kokurai-Alchemist._

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Beka<strong>

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><p><strong>1. <strong>She can count the things she knows about her father one hand. 1) He gambled that she would be a boy. 2) He didn't cull her when he saw her eyes, which means he probably loved her. Probably. 3) She got her gift from him. 4) Her mother loved him. 5) He's not dead yet.

**2. **The last one is solely based on the fact that she's never met his ghost, and she'd liked to think that Ilony Cooper would like to greet his first-born before passing on to the Peaceful Realms.

**3. **She finds out she'll kill for her family when one of her mom's guests tries to touch Diona. Mercifully, the knife she rams into his back doesn't kill him, but as she watches her mother drag the semi-conscious rat outside—probably to get robbed and murdered by the nearest able beggar—she looks at the blood on her hands and feels nothing but satisfaction.

**4. **The Lord Provost thinks she came to him because it was the right thing to do, but Beka was born and bred in the Cesspool, and the only "right" she knows is that _no one_ gets away with hurting her family. She goes to the Dogs because she knows that there's no other way to get justice for the way her mother was treated. 'Nabbing the Bold Brass Gang was just a means to that end.

**5. ** It takes two days, three hours, and twenty seconds for Beka to realize that she wants to be just like her Lord Gershom. A minute later she approaches him and asks if she can train as a puppy. She's always been a fast decision maker.

**6. **Despite this, she keeps a knife on her body and a bag of uneaten breads under bed just in case she and her siblings need to get out fast. It's not until he stands up for her against the Lady that she realizes that she can truly trust him.

**7. **She has no idea how she, as quiet and shy as she was, managed to make friends with the most popular puppies during training and catch the eyes of some of the most dangerous people in the Court of the Rogue. She doesn't realize that ice-gray eyes, delicate features, and the fire that fills her when she's on duty is very attractive to those around her.

**8. **Yes, she knows that by leaving to train she left her siblings to grow up alone. Yes, she knows that it helped them get stronger. No, she doesn't regret letting them find their own paths. (It still hurts when she sees a lady-in-waiting curtsying elegantly and realizes it's Diona, or marvels at the skillful fingers of a stable-boy and realizes it's Will.)

**9. **Best friends are hard to come by, and as silly as Tansy can be she's been Beka's other half for too long for their friendship to break over something as silly as Beka being a Dog and Tansy being the daughter-in-law to one of the biggest rats in the Lower City.

**10. **Once, she sees Goodwin carry a child all the way from North Gate to the Kennels. Once, she sees Tunstall break the ribs of a man caught for rape with a single kick. It's times like these that she realizes why she looks up to them so much. They aren't Guards. They're _Dogs._

**11. **Rosto makes her heart beat faster, and Dale makes her toes curl, but Beka never forgets that the former is a rat and the latter a gambler. Still, at times, her pox-cursed body doesn't seem to care.

**12. **She's ridiculously proud when she hears that Lorine has a talent for sewing. She's even prouder when she sees Lorine declare proudly that she was once from the Cesspool. There aren't too many days like that left for her youngest sister.

**13. **Once, a gang of rats ambush her at her lodgings. They obviously don't expect the sweaty, annoyed, and less-than-dressed Kora, Aniki, and Rosto to join in the fight. After the fight is over and Beka has enough time to realize what exactly the group had been doing, she can't look them for a week without blushing.

**14. **She didn't expect the Ashmiller girls to warm up to her in such a short time, but it still hurts when they refuse to look at her even after she rescues their dad.

**15. **Granny Fern's getting old, but Beka hopes there are still a couple good years before the woman leaves for the Peaceful Realms. After all, she's the only link Beka has to her father, and she still hopes that one day the woman will give in and reveal something, _anything _about who Ilony Cooper was.

**16. **Rosto is surprised when he catches her dancing in one of the higher-end taverns, but her movements are graceful and she looks so relaxed that he can't bring himself to step in and tease her. Not yet, anyway.

**17. **She suspects that Pounce isn't her cat as much as she is _his_ owner. Then again, if Kora is right and he's a constellation or some such, she can't really complain.

**18. **She and Lady Teodorie come to an understanding when Beka saves Lord Gershom's life for the first time. She'll do her best to protect her Lord out of his house, and Lady Teodorie will do her best to protect him from within.

**19. **Hearing ghosts is both a blessing and a curse, and it's a thin line between caring enough to fight for those already dead and going mad with knowing that there's more that she'll never be able to avenge. She's terrified that one day she'll fall off the line and plunge into apathy or insanity.

**20. **She still fights to protect her family—it's just that her family's grown to encompass those of the Lower City who can't protect themselves, the rats who seek to help, and the Dogs who risk their lives to make sure the Lower City doesn't burn itself down. She hopes that one day Diona will forgive her for that.


	5. Gareth the Younger

**20 Truths About Gary**

**1.** It's not easy being cousin to the prince, and at first the sarcasm is just a way to cover up the fact that he hasn't the royal standing and confidence of Jonathan of Conté, but Gary soon finds that making nobles blush when they try to get him to ask Jon for something or another is bloody fun.

**2. **He's a small boy when he first arrives at the palace and the fact that he can talk circles around the bigger boys probably doesn't endear him to many—and then he meets Alex, who's even _smaller _and yet the best fighter of them all, and Raoul who is huge and Jon finally joins up and suddenly he's not the tiny smart-aleck but Gary the tiny smart-aleck.

**3. **When Gary hits his growth spurt, he hits it _hard _and suddenly he's left Alex far behind and its shooting towards Raoul. Unfortunately, the dark boy can still dump him on his ass in spear-play, staffwork, and jousting so he can't really gloat.

**4. **The first thing he thinks when he sees the little purple-eyed thing fighting Ralon is that he'll bet on the kid. The second is that while telling one's opponent to "kiss a pig" is far from original, watching Ralon's ugly face redden is the funniest thing he's seen since Midwinter.

**5. **Alan is small—smaller than he was before his growth spurt—and for some reason Gary finds him absolutely adorable. He keeps this information to himself, however. No need to make Alan any redder than the boy already is.

**6. **He will go to his grave swearing that the only reason Jonathan got Alan as his squire was because the prince poisoned Gary's food so the older boy was too busy puking to get the words out in time.

**7. **His theories about Alan's secret ranged from 1) child abuse, (hence the reluctance to trust Roger, estrangement from his father, and refusal to go swimming); 2) closet homosexuality, (feminine features, no interest in girls, and very red face every time the other boys stripped in front of him); 3) he really wasn't Alan of Trebond, but some commoner with the same red hair and violet eyes, (he avoided the most powerful sorcerer in Tortall, never spoke about his father if he could help it, had never been seen at court.)

**8. **He's more than a little disgruntled when all of the above are proven wrong. He'd really been banking at least _one _of them being true.

**9. **When the truth comes out, Gary visits both Jonathan and George, towing an uncomfortable looking Raoul behind him. He then proceeds to give both men stern talks about how much pain they'd go through if they hurt Alanna, while Raoul tried, (and failed), to look menacing. When he's done, both men are strangely amused. He finds out later that Thom got there before him, and apparently the older Trebond twin is far scarier than he could ever be.

**10. **He blames himself for Alex's fall. He was his best friend, he should have known—the logical part of his mind tells him these thoughts will only prolong his grief, but the rest of him doesn't care.

**11. **Despite knowing he'd follow his father's footsteps one day, he really doesn't want to be the Prime Minister—too much desk-work and needing to be diplomatic. Then he realizes that with Alanna becoming a legend and Jonathan becoming the bloody _King, _he'd better give the Players something to sing about too.

**12. **He hates Roger. Every time he thinks of him, he sees Alex's dead body and thinks _murderer_.

**13. **His childhood was spent trying to outwit, out-argue, and out-debate his father. His teenage years were spent trying to escape his shadow. It's when he's well into his adult years that he realizes that the person he was trying to become had been his father all along.

**14. **Alanna's won the hearts of the King of Tortall, the King of Thieves, the Shang Dragon—and as Gary watches her stride towards Jonathan with the Dominion Jewel in her grasp and her eyes fierce and so very beautiful, he wonders wryly if she knows how close she came to claiming the heart of the Prime Minister as well.

**15. **It kills him that when Alanna finally returns after doing the impossible, everyone _else _gets to welcome her home but _no, _the Prime Minister has to arrange the King's coronation ceremony like a good little dog. She finds him working (and sulking) afterwards and teases him until he smiles, and as Gary watches her laugh he just can't believe that this _woman_ is the little boy he took under his wing all those years ago.

**16. **When he meets Alianne a couple decades later, he finds a tiny girl with the spunk of her mother and the wit of her father and laughs because he's always known any children of Alan's (after all this time that's still what he thinks of her as), would be amazing. And unlike her mother, she's actually interested in all the little things that make a kingdom run smoothly.

**17. **Gary mellows as he gets older—especially after his marriage to Cythera, who has just as much bite and isn't afraid to use it. He still takes great pleasure in ripping into the stuffy conservatives who insult Alanna and then turn and simper at him.

**18. **He doesn't cry at his father's funeral until he's alone with the tombstone and suddenly he's hit with the knowledge that there will be no more nightly debates over everything from politics to magic to food, and no more roundabout insults that really mean, "I love you." The tears fall then.

**19. **Of all his friends, he is the last to have children—a fact that gets him teased quite a bit. He retorts that Jonathan had to produce an heir, Alanna ditto, (she blushes and he doesn't quite know why), and Raoul's been itching to become a father since he hit puberty.

**20. **He kind of wants a nickname. Nothing as flashy as "the Lioness" or "the Giantkiller," just something more impressive than the "Prime Minister." He's considered emblazing "The Wittiest, Smartest, most Handsome Prime Minister in History" on his tunic, and then thought better of it. No need to make the others feel inadequate.


	6. George Cooper

**20 Truths About George**

**1. **His mom tells him from birth that he has justice in his blood, but it isn't until he watches a rusher kill a child molester that he realizes that there's many forms of justice, and not all of them wear a uniform. He's seven at the time.

**2. **The one thing driving him to become the next Rogue wasn't the fact that he would die if he lost, but that he'd leave his mother alone and unprotected if he couldn't fulfill his goal.

**3. **The first time his Gift told him to meet someone, he resisted, and two months later the man went crazy and almost killed Risaph. He never ignores it again.

**4. **The problem with George Cooper is that he _likes _people he has no business liking, such as the Lord Provost, heir to the throne, and future prime minister. He takes comfort in the fact that there's no reason not to like the purple-eyed lad with a country boy's open face and the clothes of a noble.

**5. **He's the most careful man in Corus, but it takes him completely by surprise when he realizes he's fallen in love with Alanna of Trebond. He's one of the best thieves in Tortall, but he can't seem to steal back his heart. He never believes in miracles until she tells him she wants to be his.

**6. **The Shang have always held a special sort of fascination for him, and he's gotten to know them quite well—including a certain green-eyed dragon. They actually fought together before he became Rogue. Before they fell in love with the same woman.

**7. **It hurt when he thinks that Jonathan wants to turn him into a noble, because he'd thought the prince respected him as who he was—George Cooper, former King of Thieves and a man who will always do _whatever _it takes to protect those he loves, even if it meant breaking the law.

**8. **He finally admits after two years and several close calls that he enjoys his job as the behind-the-scenes spymaster. He admits right away that he likes his nickname. "The Whisper Man" just has such an air of mystery around it…

**9. **Thom of Trebond was one of the most arrogant, obnoxious people he ever had the misfortune of respecting, but Thom of Pirate's Swoop somehow managed to inherit all the power without gaining the same attitude. George fervently believes that this is mainly because his son Alanna, Maud, Coram, Myles, _and _Elaine to keep him in line.

**10. **Before he lets his mother marry Myles, he does a _thorough _background check on the man. Any whisper, any _hint _of violent tendencies or unsavory habits and George will send the man far, far away.

**11. **Aly is so like him it's uncanny, and it scares him half-to-death because he remembers all the close calls he had and he never wants his little girl to go through the same thing. Still, a little part of him whispers that she'll find her own way soon enough, with or without his help. He still wonders what would have happened if he'd let her spy for him.

**12. **He got his boon from Kyprioth after he took the life of a particularly nasty rat who enjoyed gutting his prisoners in the name of a certain Trickster god. He hopes he never has to use it, but considering the danger he, his wife, and his daughter put themselves in on a daily basis, he has a feeling that his hopes are about to be dashed very, very soon.

**13. **Nawat's not quite human enough for Alanna's fierce warnings to make an impact, so George pulls Daine aside and forces her to translate in bird-lingo what will happen if Nawat ever hurts his baby girl.

**14. **He can sing and dance quite well, and the fact that he's often gone undercover as a Player has taught him to utilize these skills. To his chagrin, the child that inherits this talent is idealistic, dependable Alan, who almost becomes a Player himself before discovering his love for the Code of Chivalry and the fighting that goes with it.

**15. **He's truly proud when Aly manages to find fifteen of his one-hundred agents with two years. He's even prouder when she manages to turn half of them to her side. That's when he realizes that he should probably retire before someone accuses him of treason or the like.

**16. **When he was younger, the thing that scared him most was the possibility of going blind. He still shivers when he imagines losing his sight, because at heart he'll always have a bit of the Lower City in him, and any Lower City brat knows that the poor bum without eyes is dead.

**17. **It's not a huge surprise for him when Immortals start coming in from everywhere—the nobles might have scoffed at them as children's tales, but among the lower class they're the monsters that hide after dark, the ghouls that steal children away and eat them in the night. The other kingdoms wonder how Tortall gets so much information on the Spidrens and Stormwings so quickly—well, they don't understand how close to fact bedtime stories can be.

**18. **With his choice in careers, he never thought he'd live to see his grandchildren. It's still a shock to watch Aly's triplets play and realize that they have his dimples or Alanna's eyes.

**19. **If Alanna had chosen Jonathan, he thinks that he might have been happy with Buri—but then Raoul would never have gotten married and his daughter would never have saved Alan's life—he stops thinking about what-ifs after that.

**20. **He thinks that one day, when things settle down, he'll take Alanna and they'll go traveling, just the two of them. He's still waiting things to settle down.


	7. Thayet jian Wilima

**20 Truths About Thayet**

**1. **She doesn't hate her mother for committing suicide, nor does she hate her father for putting lordship above family. She's just hurt that they both left her.

**2. **She knows that she can never be a true warrior, because above all else, she must be beautiful and gracious and queenly—which meant that protecting her face and body from scarring comes above military training.

**3. **Alanna would kill her if she knew, but Thayet thinks of her as the little sister she never had. She's just so _small_, and so innocent when it comes to the womanly arts. Still, sometimes when Thayet catches her husband watching the Lioness, she remembers very painfully that Alanna is just as much a woman as she is.

**4. **Her first thought when she met Jonathan of Conte was that his looks had been grossly exaggerated. His eyes were _not _melted sapphires, his skin was _not_ like an unbroken expanse of cream, and his smile most definitely _did not_ cause women to tear off their clothes and fall at his feet. Yes, Thayet thought as the King of Tortall kissed her hand, the rumors were definitely exaggerated. But, by the goddess, they were pretty darn close.

**5. **She wasn't a virgin when she bedded Jon. When she was escaping Saren, both she and Buri had known that their chances of getting found and raped were high, and she had wanted control over who took her virginity. The boy she gave it to had been handsome, inexperienced, and painfully sweet. He died the next morning with an arrow through his throat while Thayet escaped through the woods.

**6. **She's been trying to matchmake Raoul and Buri for years, and still can't quite believe that it's the Giantkiller's female squire that finally manages to accomplish what she's been trying to do ever since she watched them argue over the value of longbows over crossbows.

**7. **She thinks if she'd had complete control over her own fate, she'd have become a teacher. Education seems so secondary when compared to food and safety, but she's seen firsthand how literacy and basic mathematics could change lives.

**8. **Personally, she thinks that Daine is prettier than she is. The girl is half-_goddess_, after all, and the mortal woman who bore her won the love of a god.

**9. **She thought the scariest moment of her life was when she married Jon and realized that she was now queen of Tortall—and then she gave birth to her firstborn. Kalasin is spirited, beautiful, and everything she'd been when life took away her mother and father. Thayet swears to give Kally all the chances she never got, but in the end her daughter's dreams of knighthood are sacrificed for an allegiance with Carthak, and both Conté women cry themselves to sleep that night wondering at the unfairness of the world.

**10. **She can't carry a tune to save her life, and Jon finds it hilarious when his usually stately wife flees from the room after hearing that the Maren ambassadors want to hear her sing.

**11. **George is charming, Numair is elegant, and Jon is handsome—but when she meets Liam Ironarm for the first time, she swears he's the sexiest man she's ever seen.

**12. **She knows she's capable of murder, of coldly slitting a person's throat with the full knowledge that they will die. She found this out after an assassin nearly took Roald's head off and she drove an iron poker straight through his face and watched him die with satisfaction. _No one_ touches her family.

**13. **She likes to sit down with Cythera over some sewing and gossip about the next generation of heroes, spies, and mages. They even had a bet going on whether Keladry of Mindelan would end up with Neal or his charming cousin—and despite the fact that he is about to get married, Thayet still stubbornly holds that Keladry of Queenscove sounds a lot better than Keladry of Masbolle.

**14. **She wanted to have twins, because every day she was pregnant was a day the Realm was deprived of three mages, seven healers, and the squadron of soldiers Jon insisted accompany her everywhere. By her last child, things had let up a bit, mostly due to the fact that Thayet had become very adept at losing her bodyguards.

**15. **Sometimes, she wonders what it would be like to have a god or goddess choose her as their servant. When she voices this to Alanna, however, the shadows in the woman's violet eyes make her stop and suddenly being ignored seems just fine.

**16. **The Queen's Own never truly belonged to her, but she takes special pride in them in it anyway. Raoul has complained more than once that all the best supplies seem to go to their rival group.

**17. **Alanna fought spidrens despite being terrified of spiders, and Kel made her way down Balor's Needle, but as Thayet receives yet another letter from her father, she knows that it'll just end up in the pile of unopened envelopes in her drawers. She hopes, however, that one day, she'll have the courage to finally read what he's been trying to say to her for the past five years.

**18. **People write poetry and literature about how she was born into tragedy, raised in hardship—and survived despite it. Thayet wants to laugh and point to the children who were born into poverty, raised in prostitution and crime—and have no hope of ever digging their way out. Who is going to tell their story?

**19. **She hates ballads to her—especially those that go on forever praising their beauty. Don't they know being Queen is stressful enough without worrying about looking perfect every second?

**20. **From the deepest fiber of her being, she hopes her mother somehow knows that she forgives her, that she loves her, that she named her firstborn daughter after her. Sometimes, after a familiar whiff of perfume comes from nowhere or she feels eyes where no eyes could possibly be—she can almost believe her mother does.


	8. Numair Salmalin

_Suggestions welcome, reviews appreciated._

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Numair Salmalin<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong> The first time he used his gift, he was trying to save his family's old donkey from drowning in the river. Imagine his surprise when the infamously tempestuous "demons waters," froze solid with poor old Betsy braying piteously within it. The old girl doesn't make it, but after Numair gets accepted into the Royal University, he makes sure his family is wealthy enough not to need her.

**2. **The Drapers are far from poor, but Numair feels like the lowest of peasants the first time he meets Prince Ozorne. After a couple weeks the awe wears off and his patience with the patronizing boy wears thin. It only takes two minutes for him to fall for Ozorne's façade, and it takes almost a decade for him to flush the Carthaki king out of his system.

**3. **It's Arram Draper who gets fooled by Ozorne's smiles and promises. It's Arram Draper who thinks he's the only one Ozorne has accepted as a friend. It's Arram Draper who learns the hard way that once Ozorne gets tired of a human toy, it is always broken so no one else can have the pleasure. Numair Salmalin knows better.

**4. **When news of his various conquests spread, Lindall shakes his head and informs Numair that one day, he'll fall in love and regret not waiting for her. He scoffs and laughs at Lindall for being a stuffy old traditionalist—and then he meets a half-wild girl with soft curls and the most beautiful smile he's ever seen.

**5. **He's used to being the handsomest man in court, but when he arrives in Tortall and finds that the _King_, of all people, holds that position, he decides that maybe settling for second best isn't that bad after all.

**6. **Alanna's temper fascinates him. How can one tiny woman have men three times her size and twice her weight cowering in fear?

**7. **He can hold his liquor better than almost anyone, but he never tries to push his limits. The antics of a drunk black mage could be catastrophic.

**8. **He might have had a crush on Buri once. He knows Ouna had a brief thing for him. The reason they work so well together is that none of them, _thankthegods_, pursued these feelings.

**9. **One thing he thanks Mithros for every day is that his parents died before he was cast out of favor. He knows firsthand the torture tactics Ozorne delights in, and knows he would have splintered in a second if his parents were subject to the same thing.

**10. **Numair finds it extremely ironic that he, of all people, is reduced to swordplay after a particularly stubborn noble refuses to leave his wife alone. Alanna trains him half to death before the duel until he reminds her that, if all else fails, he'll just magic the sword look like he's wielding it.

**11. **She refuses to continue her lessons until he apologizes.

**12. **There are two good things that come of it all—he learns that Daine _really _likes it when he uses a sword, and he gets to beat one of the stuffiest, most arrogant men in Tortall over the head. The man drops like a stone.

**13. **He loves Varice, just not in the way the woman loves him. She's beautiful, talented, and graceful, but she's also his baby sister and nagging mother mixed together. In other words, to Numair Salmalin, Varice will always be family—but anything more would feel sacrilegious.

**14. **There are a couple uncomfortable months when Numair wonders if Daine actually has feelings for Rikash—she _does _name their firstborn son after the Stormwing—but then she smiles and leans her head on his shoulder and he thinks he's a fool for doubting her.

**15. **Before, Carthak was dangerous because of Ozorne. Afterwards, it's dangerous because Numair is still waiting for Kaladar to realize that a match with the Wildmage is actually a strong political move. He doesn't realize that anyone with a functioning brain knows better than to touch the Wildmage. The way his eyes darken whenever she's with another man is very telling.

**16. **He hates himself when he realizes that she gave up immortality to be with him—but he's so happy that he can't bring himself to do the right thing and break up with her.

**17.** The day Daine gives birth to his firstborn, Numair is literally a nervous wreck. She's just so young, he knows the dangers, and he'll never forgive himself if she doesn't make it.

**18. **George Cooper asks him for some strange favors, but Numair sees right through him when the Whisper Man casually asks him to "watch over the proceedings" on the day of the Raka revolution.

**19. **It's a general misconception that he spoils his kids—he knows more than anyone the dangers of uncontrolled power and Daine has had to remind him more than once that as precocious as his children are, they aren't adults.

**20. **Every anniversary, he and Daine revisit her hometown and his. It takes them several hours in the sky, but the memories are worth it, and they manage to satisfy their urges to take to the skies and never come back. For another year at least.


	9. Keladry of Mindelan

_Authors are inspired by reviews to write!_

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Keladry of Mindelan<strong>

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><p><strong>1. <strong>She never really knew her father—he was a busy man—but always felt a special sort of kinship to him. They were, after all, the only two members of the Mindelan family who weren't considered classically beautiful—as well as the only two who couldn't care less about how they looked.

**2. **People often make the mistake of thinking that, because everyone from Lord Wyldon to the stuffiest conservatives wished she was a boy, that she wished that too. They couldn't be further from the truth.

**3. **Her older sisters used to spoil her—until they arrived in the Yamani Isles. After their mother insisted that they learn to wield the glaive, Keladry found that neither of her older sisters would hesitate in dumping her on her back on the training field. This was fine—she wouldn't hesitate either.

**4. **She's never felt attracted to King Jonathan. She had to admit, he was good-looking—but after he denied her regular page-hood, the best positive feelings she could summon up for him was the respect and loyalty a knight gave his monarch.

**5. **Before she decided to become a knight, she overheard her parents talking about possible marriage arrangements for their youngest daughter. The names "Queenscove," and "Oslaw," were mentioned, but the one that really makes her shudder when she thinks back to that night is her father's thoughtful, "The Lord of Stone Mountain made us an offer as well."

**6. **Neal was her first crush, Cleon her first kiss, and Lerant her first lover. Thinking back, however, Kel has to admit that the only one who ever truly claimed her heart was a certain blue-eyed sergeant.

**7. **Being a female squire in a company of men isn't easy—but Kel soon finds her niche and the King's Own almost forgets the first Lady Knight is living in their Commander's tent. They remember again during the balls the King forces Raoul to attend. When Keladry walks out in shimmering silk, they stare like they've never seen her before.

**8. **Kel learns to sleep in her regular clothes whenever the King's Own is stationed in the woods. Bandits have a nasty habit of attacking in the middle of the night, and she's learned from experience that fighting in a nightgown can lead to some embarrassing situations.

**9. **People expect her—level-headed, calm and practical Kel—to be able to hold her liquor, but usually, by the time Kel finishes sipping her second glass, it's all she can do not to run off and join Raoul in hiding.

**10. **Even though people credit her with getting Buri and Raoul together, she was the most surprised when she found out her involuntary suggestion resulted in her knight-master and the deputy of the Queen's Riders sharing a bed. She still feels guilty that she indirectly ruined their first night together after the Lord of Stone Mountain crashed into her tent.

**11. **She doesn't know any Tortallan dances. While the other pages were learning the men's roles, she was sent to clean the stables or climb trees—anything Lord Wyldon felt like assigning her. She can, however, hold her own with a Yamani fan and a decent amount of space.

**12. **The Lioness is still her hero, but after all of Raoul's stories about the trouble "Alan" used to get into, Keladry can't quite summon up the adoration she used to feel.

**13. **She learns firsthand the disadvantage of not possessing any kind of magic when a mage freezes her in place with one hand and starts to drill into her mind for secret information. Luckily, Numair shows up and blasts the man to the Peaceful Realms—but after that she forces the black-robe mage to teach her how to block her mind from intrusion.

**14. **When Merric comes down with a cold and she literally takes it upon herself to "mother him back to health," it's all the other boys can do not to go jump in the lake just so they can get the same treatment.

**15. **When Cleon and Kel were together, the other pages were either oblivious or trying desperately to be oblivious. When rumors started sprouting about Kel and Lerant, they were all too far away to do anything except mutter darkly to themselves. Dom, however, makes the mistake of courting Kel during one of their rare stays in the palace. Merric, Owen, Faleron, Seaver, and several others corner him and deliver the speeches they'd been holding in for years, and poor Dom gets "the talk" meant for Cleon and Lerant as well as the speech specially designed for him.

**16. **Sometimes, Kel thinks of her friends as little brothers—immature, roughhousing boys who she mothers relentlessly. Other times, they seem more like her big brothers—especially when Faleron or Neal puts their arms around her shoulders and stare warningly at a rude noble or a staring servant. One thing never changes, however—they're her family.

**17. **The Chamber of the Ordeal creeps her out, but she has to admit that he—somehow she doubts it's female—is growing on her. The fact that the Chamber seems to be developing a personality helps as well.

**18. **Both Tobe and Peachblossom take an instant disliking to Dom when he and a very disheveled Kel start emerging from the stables at odd times. Tobe really doesn't want to see his mistress _that _way, and Peachblossom just hates strangers taking up his space.

**19. **Lalassa sews her wedding gown, and Kel swears that only the seamstress can make her muscular, warrior-build seem feminine, dainty, and beautiful. Lalassa rolls her eyes, but leaves it Dom to inform Kel that the dress is only enhancing the dreamy hazel eyes and soft skin that's she's always possessed.

**20. **Despite the probationary year, despite her fear of heights, despite Blyce and Joren and Garvey—Keladry wouldn't change anything in her life. Rocking her baby boy and smiling down at her husband, who's trying in vain to catch their firstborn girl as she dashes around on her new pony, she thinks that she must be the luckiest woman in the world.


	10. Liam Ironarm

_Reviews welcome! Requests even more welcome._

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><p><strong>20 Truth About Liam Ironarm<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong>He's a half-dead beggar when the Shangs come to his village, and all he registers is a scar-faced man pointing at him before he's picked up and whisked into a life he never imagined could be his.

**2.**The first thing his teachers order him to do is to choose a last name for himself. Liam, watching his bony arms tremble, smiles bitterly and names himself "Ironarm." He half-expects the stern-faced man in front of him to scoff and get rid of him, but surprisingly the man just nods in acceptance. It's his first encounter with someone who believes in him.

**3.**He's the worst student the Shangs have ever seen—his body so weak that he can barely find the energy to get himself through the training. However, he's also the hardest worker the Shangs have seen for a long time, and because of that they refuse to let him learn at a slower pace. It pays off. Muscles replace the skin stretched over his bones and his cheeks grow rosy from exercise. Soon, he's breaking hearts and the Shang Masters shake their heads and wonder when the broken little street brat they took turned into this confident man?

**4.**Liam doesn't have many real friends—though there are hundreds who would give their right arm to claim his as one of theirs—and so he treasures all the ones he has. When Alanna bites her lip in that adorable way she has and admits that she was afraid they wouldn't be able to stay friends, Liam almost laughs because there's no way in hell that he'd give her up because their romance didn't work out. Besides, who said he was giving up on her just because she was with Cooper now?

**5.**Once, on his travels, he came across a cat with purple eyes. He throws a shoe at it. When he meets Faithful for the first time, the cat stares at him flatly and warns him that if he tries hurling anything at him again, he'll summon all the powers of the stars and make sure Liam never stands up again.

**6.**He can sing quite well, and when he doesn't want to make money by fighting, he learns the newest ballads and earns his income that way. It's through the ballads that he's first introduced to the Lioness and all her glory.

**7.**He's never actually met Duke Rodger, but judging by the shadows under Alanna's eyes, the Duke of Conté is even more than the dangerous criminal the ballads paint him to be. It kills him that he can't help her bear this burden, and that Rodger is a trial only she can face.

**8.**He's never considered going back to look for his family. As far as he was concerned, he left them behind the moment he took the title as the Shang Dragon.

**9.**Liam's never been scared of another man before, but Raoul of Goldenlake charging across a stadium with a lance is almost enough to make him thank the gods that he isn't the big man's opponent.

**10.**The masters told him his future the day he left them. He wasted a couple years trying to experience everything he could, spent another couple years staying as far away from Corus as possible. For some reason, when he finally finds himself drunk and stranded in Tortall again, the fear that plagued his heart vanished, replaced by a peace that would accompany him to the grave.

**11.**A large part of him wishes that Alanna took him to the Roof of the World with her. The other bit whispers that, had the Lioness had a Dragon with her, the creature that guarded the Dominion Jewel might have been too scared to face them and just chose to freeze them to death instead.

**12.**Order is important to him, but freedom is his life. In other words, he doesn't know what he wants from the people around him.

**13.**His first love was the Shang Unicorn. She was silver and lightning and so beautiful—but she was also as flighty and mystical as her namesake. By the time he claimed his title, she was gone to some faraway island, adventuring with peoples the civilized world has never seen. He still wonders if he'll ever see her again.

**14.**Being the Shang Dragon may mean free lodging and food at nice inns, but it also means that random drunks will come up and try to pick a fight, just to say that they've fought with the Shang Dragon. Liam puts up with it for a year before finally breaking a man's jaw with his fourth finger. People leave him alone after that.

**15.**He knows it's childish, but he takes pleasure in the fact that there are more ballads about him and Alanna than there are about her and her husband. Then again, no one really knows who her husband is—and if he wants his ears to stay on his head, he knows he better keep it that way.

**16.**He never thought he'd be a family kind of he met Alanna. Soon afterwards, he starts dreaming about a little boy with Alanna's copper curls and his green eyes, or a little girl with his smile and Alanna's temper.

**17.**Yes, he knows it will never come true. No, he doesn't care. Some dreams are precious because of their impossibility.

**18.**Once in awhile, he throws a gold noble to a beggar boy, and stays around to make sure the kid actually gets to use it. After awhile he realizes that it's probably smarter—and less dangerous for the kid—to just get him a job at the palace, so that's what he does. The King owns him a few favors anyway, and the stable could always use more helpers.

**19.**He has a soft spot for his hair. He secretly takes pride in the fact that it's softer than Alanna's. He'll kill anyone who finds out.

**20.**He might have been happy, had he lived. He might have met a horsewoman with a no-nonsense attitude and a dog who growled at him every time he came near his mistress. He might have fallen in love with this woman and they might have had many happy decades together. He might have loved Ouna, had he ever met her. Sadly, there are no might-haves in the Peaceful Realms.


	11. Jonathan of Conté

_Shout-out to all those who reviewed! You guys are the reason I am updating-thanks for all the encouragement._

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Jonathan of Conté<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong>When he is five years old, his father has him banished to his room for spilling wine in the presence of a foreign ambassador. Roger finds him crying underneath his bed, and Jon looks up with angry blue eyes and pronounces defiantly that he never wants to be king. Years later, watching the servants cart out the body of the cousin he'd loved, Jon wonders if things would be different if he'd stuck to that declaration.

**2.**He used to be considered the "hellion of the palace," always getting into trouble or creating it on his own. Years later, during his coronation, some of the older noble patriarchs still shake their head in amusement when they kneel before him.

**3.**He knows very well that some of the other pages resent his inner circle of friends, but ever since he saw the way his father struggled with backstabbing in his court he's been determined that he'll have a select few that he can trust. They better get used to listening to his friends, because they'll rule Tortall with him. (Then, of course, Francis dies and Alex betrays him and Alanna turns female and breaks his heart, but then again, nothing is perfect.)

**4.**For the longest time, he assumed Alan liked boys. For the longest time, he assumed that the younger "boy" had a crush on him. Later, when Alanna's secret is revealed, he's gratified to find out that at least he was half right.

**5.**He's never been as sharp as Gary, as strong as Raoul, as skilled as Alanna, or as clever as Alex—but being Crown Prince means that he has to be very close in all the areas. (Ironically, or perhaps not so ironically, George is the only one who truly understands the pressure he's under. It's why he agrees to beat Jon to a pulp and train him to fight back whenever the Prince walks into the Dancing Dove.)

**6.**Sometimes, Jon wants to just get on his horse and ride until Tortall is behind him and he's so far away that no one knows who he is. Sometimes, the burden of the entire country—plus the mental strain of maintaining the Dominion Jewel and being the Voice of the Bahzir—is so much that he feels like ending it all. Alanna doesn't realize how serious he is when he tells her that he needs her to make him laugh.

**7.**Gary is his older cousin, and despite the fact that he outranks the bigger boy, Jon grew up watching the younger Naxen mouth-off to anyone and everyone he disagreed with. Perhaps this is why he's not quite as diplomatic as he could be. Or, at least, that's the story he's going with. After all, what are older cousins for if not as a scapegoat for all one's moral failings?

**8.**When they're fighting in the Black City and the demoness makes Alanna's clothes disappear, Jon has to admit that behind the shock and incredulity, he's just a bit attracted this female version of Alan. He is a normal teenage boy.

**9.**He realizes that his feelings for his squire is far more than hormonal urges when his stomach clenches at her admission that she trusted George Cooper with her secret. Suddenly, the King of Thieves is less of the friend he'd trust his life to and the rival he'd previously only acknowledged subconsciously.

**10.**If he's completely honest, he'd have to admit that he never liked the admiration in Alan's eyes when he, (she?) spoke of George. He just never let himself wonder why until the Black City.

**11.**Delia of Eldorn plays with his passions, Alanna takes and breaks his heart, but Thayet's the one who sits beside him, proud and strong, the queen to his king. Still, at time, he still wonders how different Tortall would be if his bride had fiery locks and an even hotter temper rather than serene smiles and graceful elegance.

**12.** When he denies Kalasin her chance at knighthood, he knows he will lose his daughter and probably his wife as well. Lying alone in bed, hearing Thayet's quiet tears as she lies coldly beside him, he remembers all those the throne has taken away from him (father, mother, Alanna, Roger, Francis, Alex, Kalasin…) and wonders if he can survive if his queen decides to leave as well.

**13.**He's secretly glad when Raoul takes Keladry of Mindelan on as his page, because if she'd been forced to squire at the castle he just _knows_ that Roald would have found a way to achieve knighthood early and take her as his squire—and he's learned from experience taking a female squire who's already a close friend and helps you forget the burden of the throne is not a good idea.

**14.**He suspects that deep down, he's just a little bit sexist. The women in his life are working on beating it out of him.

**15.**George Cooper is very tired of checking Jon's chocolate boxes for poisons. The Tortallan King's sweet tooth is just a bit too well-known.

**16.**Thom is the scariest man Jon's ever met, and he manages to achieve this status with one conversation. "You may be the King of Tortall, but I'm the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Break my sister's heart, and I'll break your kingdom."

**17.**The Dominion Jewel is too much power for any normal man to handle alone, but Jon has Alanna's goddess-touched magic, Numair's vast power, and even Daine's wild magic if he really needs it—so he's protected from the risk of going mad from the jewel's touch. Roald, however, doesn't have this luxury, which is why Jon is so reluctant to appoint his oldest son heir.

**18.**Keladry of Mindelan wins his respect long before she becomes a knight—but she gains his everlasting gratitude when she turns Roald's relationship with Shinko into love. Jon knows very well the loneliness at the top of the kingdom, and he's glad that Roald will have someone to share it with.

**19.**During bad days, when the court is as toxic as the snakes they are and he just needs to get away, he calls Gary up and they spar until their silken robes are wet with sweat and probably ruined. Thayet clucks at him afterwards for wasting a perfectly good pair of clothes, but never too hard because he knows she knows that she could never survive without her daily matches with Buri either.

**20.**When History remembers the "Golden Age of Tortall," they will remember the Lioness, the Whisper Man, the Wild Mage, and the Black-Robed Salmalin. And they will remember King Jonathan the Great, ruling over his subjects with wisdom and power. With everything the throne has taken from him, it just doesn't seem enough.


	12. Kalasin of Conté

_Written after a request. Thanks to all my reviewers!_

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Kalasin of Conté<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong>For the longest time, she hated her name. Others may think that being named after then a woman who committed suicide to make a point is romantic and inspiring, but if it had been Kally in that situation, she would have grabbed a sword and _fought_ for her people, not died so that others would.

**2.**She makes her mother cry for the first time when she tells her this. Kally cries too, afraid that she's done something wrong, until Thayet puts her arms around her daughter and murmurs fiercely that she's proud to have such a brave warrior as a daughter, and that she hopes Kally never loses her spirit. She's four at the time.

**3.** Soon afterward she first meets Aunt Alanna, and after seeing her beat Uncle Gary and Uncle Raoul easily at swordplay, she decides there and then that she wants to be the next female knight. Alanna is overjoyed, and proudly declares that she'll start training Kally right away—much to Thayet's horror. They agree to wait until Kally's seven, but Alanna shoots the girl a wink and promises that she'll definitely take her as a squire when the time comes.

**4.**Of course, the time never comes. During those short years between her resolution and her seventh birthday, Tortall goes through its worst economic recession yet. She watches her father grow thinner and thinner as he struggles to find countries willing to trade with them. When she turns six, he visits her in her room and explains, very solemnly, Tortall's economic situation, and that they really need an alliance with a wealthy nation. Then, he explains that she has a very special role to play in this alliance, and asks whether she's brave enough to do it.

**5.**She says yes—he's her father and the king and she's never seen him so serious before—and when she realizes what exactly she's agreed to, she cries herself to sleep for a month. But she never tells him that she's reconsidered.

**6.**Kally hates that she's the reason her mother refuses to sleep with her father for almost a year, and that Aunt Alanna can't look at him without glaring for almost twice that time period. She hates it even more that she can't bear to stay in the same room with him without thinking what might have been if she'd been born to another family.

**7.**She was irrationally, furiously jealous of Keladry of Mindelan, until Aly disappeared and suddenly she didn't have someone to complain with. Then, Kally realized that some things were just not meant to be, and that she might as well accept it. She invites the female knight to spar and is pleasantly satisfied when she realizes that her years persuading her brothers to train with her enables her to keep up with the Lady Knight quite well.

**8.**Roald is her older brother, but she's been patching up his cuts and bruises ever since they were toddlers and can't really see him as anything as the five-year old boy with too-serious eyes that she was always afraid would grow up and leave her behind. Liam, on the other hand, is younger than her but so wild that he refuses to let her mother him so she smacks him over the head to make him stronger and teach him to respect women. Jasson was quiet and clever, and with him she was the mother Thayet was often too busy to be. In return, her brothers carefully research Kaddar's past and personality, just to make sure that their sister is going somewhere where she'll be respected.

**9.**She inherited her sweet tooth from her father, but her love of spices from her mother. One of the first things that ingratiate Carthak to her is their mix of sweet and spicy foods.

**10.**Aly was her best friend when they were young, and Sarai becomes her best friend in Carthak. When she finds out that Sarai and Aly actually know each other, Kally immediately starts planning for a reunion. After all, spymasters and queens need girl-time too.

**11.**One of her greatest regrets is that she never got to spend time with Lianne or Vania. By the time her baby sisters are old enough to converse with, she was off adventuring with Roald or Liam or even Jasson.

**12.**Luckily, her first child is a boy, but her inexperience with girls comes back to bite her when her next baby is a girl and she has no idea how to treat the little child. Kaddar—an only child, is just as clueless. Somehow, their baby makes it out ok.

**13.**On her wedding day, Thayet pulled her aside and whispered fiercely that there are two types of marriages—those born out of love and those that grow into love. Later, Daine tells the story of a prince whose uncle almost destroyed a nation—a nation whose ruins he inherited. As she walks down the aisle, Kally gazes straight into the face of the dark man with the boyish eyes and weight of Carthak on his shoulders, and promises herself that she'll make things work.

**14.**Their wedding night is tense, to say the least, but Kally handles it with the persistent stubbornness that she directs towards all her problems. The first night, they spend talking about politics. The second, they talk about themselves. The third, Kaddar wraps a muscled arm around her waist and kisses her, and Kally finds it easier than she'd expected to kiss him back.

**15.**It helps that he's a really good kisser. It helps even more when he assures her that the rumors about his past relationship with Daine aren't true. That would have been just awkward.

**16.**She makes it clear to everyone that she's not there to bear children—she's there to be queen. They make it clear that they need her to bear an heir and provide a link to the growing kingdom of Tortall. They compromise when she bears the crown prince and then starts passing legislature with the babe still suckling at her breast.

**17.**She falls in love with Kaddar when he defies the court and refuses to take any noble ladies as his concubine. Sometimes, feeling her heart breaking at the pressure he's under, she wish she hadn't. It's then that she truly understands how powerful her mother is—to go through the daily pain and give no trace of it.

**18.** Once, she met an old woman in the street—rather, the old hag crashed straight into her. Kally bites back a yelp and steadies the crone, and when she looks up there are two intelligent, sparking eyes looking straight into her soul. "You'll do fine as our new queen, girlee," the woman cackles, and then Kally's heart jumps because she's heard of this goddess from both her husband and Daine.

**19.**She still wonders if blurting, "I don't want to be able to wake the dead," was the best response she could have given.

**20.**On the first anniversary of her marriage, she visits Tortall. It's not as hard as she thought it would be, nor as easy as she would have hoped. Tomorrow, she might hate being the princess of two nations, torn between her homeland and her new empire. For now, however, Kally slips her fingers into Kaddar's strong hands—_kingly__hands_—and feels allright with the world.


	13. Rosto the Piper

_Written for demonpixiel, who's review was both long and sweet. And on that note, please review!_

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Rosto the Piper<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong> Scanra is a cold country, with deadly snows and even deadlier people. Rosto grows up on the streets, a boy too pretty to be left alone and too smart to let himself be taken in by the smiling men with soft hands and hungry eyes. He learns not to feel the ice soon enough.

**2. **He learns to play the pipe from a blind beggar, and how to fight from the rushers who gutted the man to steal his earnings. Loyalty doesn't fill bellies, and Rosto knows better than anyone that to survive, a cove has to learn from whoever he can. He soothes his conscience by promising that one day, he'll get strong enough to kill anyone who hurts those he cares about.

**3.** Kora is an herb-witch's apprentice who knows that getting involved with the dark-eyed rascal playing music at her window is insanity. Aniki is a rusher's niece, tough and painfully aware that she laughs too much, too easily. They both fall in love with Rosto anyway, and even though he's an impervious lad with icy eyes and a harder heart, he opens his rusty old gates for just a moment and lets them in. They're inseparable after that, even after they stop being bed-friends.

**4.** They decide to leave Scanra at fifteen, but end up actually doing so two years later, after Kora's learned her magic, Aniki her swords and Rosto his knives and wits and charming snake-smiles. The rumors of an unstable, corrupted Rogue only help them on their way.

**5.** Rosto's first thought as he, Kora, and Aniki sneak past Corus' gates and into its city is, _gods,__there__are__a__lot__of__people._ Kora and Aniki still tease him for his slack-jawed, "country-bumpkin" expression. Rosto fervently denies it every time.

**6.** He's a rising star in the Court of the Rogue, and knows full-well that the quickest way to get his throat cut is to draw attention to himself. Still, the pretty puppy with the icy eyes and graceful walk steals his gaze as easily as if she'd been the thief and he'd been the stupid merchant, too busy dreaming about poppies to realize his purse's been stolen.

**7.** He has a scar on his lower back, where a mott he'd taken into his bed tried to stab him. Luckily, even in the after-haze of sex, his reflexes were fast and he backhanded her, sending her flying across the room and his housemates running into the room. Kora heals him up while Aniki coldly dispatches the would-be assassin, and Rosto grits his teeth and pretends that his blood isn't leaking into the carpet.

**8.** When rumors started spreading about Dale Rowan and a certain Terrier, he didn't sulk. Unless, of course, the daily contemplation and planning of murder counts as sulking.

**9.** He loves to swim. The look in Beka's eyes as he strips down and dives into the river doesn't hurt either.

**10.** Lord Gershum scares him more than any Lord Provost ought to. This might just be because the man happens to be Beka's foster father, and he's just caught Rosto kissing her against the stable doors.

**11.** She's got more pieces of his heart than he'd ever planned on giving her, so Rosto thinks it's a good investment when he sends his most trusted people to shadow Beka on her more dangerous patrol nights.

**12.** Pounce mystifies Aniki and fascinates Kora, but when Rosto looks at the animal he sees a pet that might be immortal and that's the end of that.

**13.** He's never thought much about magic—living with Kora, who uses her Gift for laundry and cooking, has dulled him to the wonder others feel—but when he sees Beka surrounded by pigeons with an otherworldly look in her eyes, he struck by a mix of awe and fear. Awe because of the power she has, and fear because he's not sure he can follow her down the path she is traveling.

**14.** He really enjoys seeing the Players perform. Kora and Aniki used to sneak him inside the shows, and then, when they got older, he paid like everyone else—albeit in disguise. Once, he got placed next to a strikingly familiar woman and her husband, and it took him the first half-hour to realize that it was Goodwin beside him laughing at the actors and actresses.

**15.** He almost leaves right there, but then Goodwin catches his eye and gives him a wink. The message is clear. _Don__'__t__ tell,__ and __I__ won__'__t._

**16.** Goodwin's the openly aggressive one, Beka's the one with the ghostlike eyes, but Tunstall makes him warier than either of them. There's just something about the big man's easygoing grin that makes Rosto think that he's capable of either shaking his hand over snapping his neck, right then and there. Luckily, the man seems to like him. He thinks.

**17.** He's stood without shaking in front of the Rogue half-believing that the man would order him culled then and there, faced down the mammoths of Scanra, even stood strong against Kora and Aniki at that time of the month—but he's nervous when Beka introduces him to her brothers and sisters. Somehow, he feels that if he fails this test, he'll lose the woman he loves forever. The looks on their faces aren't promising.

**18.** Being smooth has never been a problem for him, but for some reason, he stumbles when he asks her to marry him. Luckily, the smile on her face as she says _yes_, tells him that she doesn't mind.

**19.** Their wedding is small, private, and a huge secret. Both parties go in disguise, and Lord Gershum marries them while Beka's younger brothers walk her down the aisle. Kora and Aniki are his best men, Ersken, Tansy, and her sisters are Beka's maids of honor. Tunstall, Goodwin, and various other close friends and relatives sit in the audience. Everyone cheers, and everyone is ready to duck just in case rushers come pouring in. As Rosto pulls Beka into one hot, searing kiss, his fingers brush something hard and metallic at her waist and he smiles. He pities anyone who tried to attack this wedding.

**20.** He supposes he'd always known that whatever children they had would struggle between the Rogue's Court and the Provost's Guard. What he doesn't expect is for their firstborn, a beautiful girl with his refined facial structure and Beka's slim figure gets called into convent, and their second-born boy to become a scholar. Their third born child, however, is a dreamy looking lad with strange-colored eyes and a talent for seeing lies, and he steals the heart of Kora's fourth daughter before he's fifteen. Rosto shrugs, and ignores Kora's horrified look. His boy will find his way, and get his woman, with time and patience. After all, he is his father's son.


	14. Daine the Wildmage

****_Review, review!_

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Daine the Wildmage<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong> She wanted to be a boy for the longest time, so she could work and support her mother. Then, the bandits came and all she wanted to do was be strong enough to track them down and destroy them. Later, when she does have that power, Daine remembers that feeling and forces herself to be a bit slower about reaching for her magic.

**2.** Her favorite shape-shifting form is still as an eagle. Call her impractical and vain, but she loves soaring through the air and then dropping at breakneck speeds.

**3.** Cows are surprisingly intelligent. So are spiders. Ouna looks strangely at her when Daine informs the woman of this, but lets it go. After all, just because it's called, "wild magic" doesn't mean it's confined to the animals of the wild.

**4.** As much as she'd like to deny it, she does possess a feral side more animalistic than most. Usually, she suppresses it, but occasionally, when certain times of the year come around, the call is almost irresistible. Numair finds this out during mating season, when his sweet little pupil is literally a bitch in heat.

**5.** She's contemplated cutting her hair short—it really is impractical—but Numair is ridiculously protective of her hair, so she keeps it long and soft and bundled in curls.

**6.** For the first month after Kally's marriage to Kaddar, she flies to Carthak every week to make sure the little girl who brought her the dying animal at Pirate's Cove so long ago is being taken care of.

**7.** Archery is her preferred weapon—there's something about the way people's mouths drop open when she manages a weapon bigger than she is that's extremely satisfying—but at times, she's had to resort to using claws and fangs. Daine hates it. It's too feral, too animalistic—too natural.

**8.** Whenever she fights as an animal, she spends the next day soaking in the hottest spring-water she can find, trying to wash the blood from her body. Numair doesn't say anything when she comes home with burned skin and red eyes, but he the way he holds her afterwards says everything she needs to hear.

**9.** She has a bit of a crush on the king—he's the handsomest man ever to look at her twice—but the feelings evaporate as soon as she meets Thayet. The woman's beautiful, kind, and has given her so much. There's no way Daine can hold onto feelings for her husband.

**10.** She has a silver scar under her right breast, where an arrow almost killed her when she was in swan form. She hasn't tried the shape since.

**11.** The fact that she transforms naked is extremely inconvenient. The fact that she can't speak human in her animal even more so. The most embarrassing moment in her life was when she had to shift in front of Scanran ambassadors to prevent the Tortallan embassy from shooting them. At least the gesture ended up helping to end the war.

**12.** She had a brief relationship with Evin, but it was obvious that he had feelings for Miri and they broke it off after a couple days. Daine never lets on that he took her first kiss. It's a small price to pay for their friendship.

**13.** She does more than kiss with Vaile, a stable-boy with a wicked smile and even wickeder hands. They both know it won't end with marriage, but Daine's sick and tired of hearing about Numair's conquests and he likes her even though she's the Wildmage and there are rumors about her being half-badger swirling around the kingdom. When it ends, they end it in friendship.

**14.** She misses Kitten more than she lets on. Luckily, the dragonet misses her just as much, and often, at strange places and in stranger situations, she'll hear a little chirp and see a silver-scaled, fire-breathing dragon hurtling out of the sky towards her.

**15.**Trousers come easier to her than dresses. After all, she's still a peasant at heart, and all the balls and jewels and gold won't change that she's never more natural than in a simple shirt and pants.

**16.**She owes Ouna everything, and never forgets it. The older woman soon finds out that whenever she gets into a pinch, there's always a pack of wolves ready to savage her attackers, or a flock of birds ready to lead her to food, or a bear ready to keep her warm. It's disconcerting, but the woman soon gets used to being friendly with more than just her horses.

**17.** A couple years back, Daine had a bad habit of shifting into animals without studying them beforehand. She learns, after a particularly embarrassing mishap, that trying to shift based on sight can result in scenarios such as accidentally burning down a building because she doesn't know that the red-bellied squirrel is called that for its ability to breath fire.

**18.** By the time she's pregnant with her firstborn, she's had enough experience with children to feel confidant. After all, whatever child she gave birth to couldn't possible be as mischievous as Alanna's twins, right?

**19.** Sarralyn Salmalín turns out to be the most powerful mage in the history of Tortall. Her brother, Rikash, might just knock her out of that position. Their toddlerhoods are punctuated with kidnapping attempts. Luckily, as powerful as these two children are, their parents, when angered and fearful for their children's lives, are far more fearsome.

**20.** A night decades later, when their children are off having their own adventures and Tortall isn't embroiled in any wars, Daine finally takes a break and cuddles with her husband, just taking in the quiet and looking up at the stars. Numair's arms are warm around her waist, and she smiles, because it's nights like these that remind her that giving up immortality was really a small price to pay.


	15. Nealan of Queenscove

_This one was fun to write. Review, please!_

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Nealan of Queenscove<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong> Contrary to what most people believe, he actually enjoyed being at the university. Contrary to what the other half of the people believe, he actually enjoys being a knight. When he explains this to his father, the Chief Healer of Tortall comments wryly that his son just likes being confusing and pigheaded.

**2.** Neal hates his full name. Nealan sounds not enough like the name of a valiant, fearsome and dashing warrior and too much like a pastry dish.

**3.** He actually has the greatest respect for Lord Wyldon. There aren't many stuffy conservatives who can deal with him verbally and still be the Stumpiest Stump in all of existence.

**4.** Kel's very pretty. He figures this out between Daine and a random stable-maid, when he stumbles upon her practicing with her glaive in the middle of the courtyard. It almost stops his heart, and he refuses to ever think anything remotely similar again.

**5.** Still—_Cleon?_ He could have sworn Kel had better taste than that sap. What kind of line is "dewdrop of my heart" anyway?

**6.** He takes pride in the fact that despite Joren looking down his nose at him for being two years too old, Neal can dump the pretty-boy of Stone Mountain on his butt at almost any weapon involving a stick—excluding swords. Neal never quite got the hang of attacking towards the pointy end of his opponents' weapons. Staffs, now, _they_ were logical. You blocked the other guy before kicking him in the stomach.

**7.** He hates bullying with a passion, always has, always will. It's why Kel's admission that she wasn't sure they'd help her fight Joren and his gang hurt so much.

**8. **Being older has its perks sometimes—he's the first among his friends to be able to get legally drunk. Not, of course, that this stops the others from tagging along and leeching alcohol off of him—but that's another story.

**9.** He has an understanding with Peachblossom. The horse can bite him all he wants, as long as he keeps his mistress safe on the fields. So far, the irritable creature hasn't let him down yet.

**10.** His friends tease him for worrying about passing the notoriously basic exams, but all he can think about is the possibility of repeating _all__four__years_ and the fact that he's already older than all the other pages. No one is as glad as he is when the scores are announced and he finds out that he's passed. Then, he becomes squire to the Lioness.

**11.** Between dodging her infamous temper and scrambling to do her bidding, Neal has less and less time to get into scrapes. He swears that his father's paying the Lioness specifically to keep him out of trouble.

**12.** Of all his male friends, he thinks Owen, of all people, understand him the most. The boy is just as outspoken, and has even less of a filter than Neal does. This becomes evident when for a while Neal has to start leaving the room when Owen and Kel are together, because the younger boy is sure to make an embarrassing comment and make him go all red.

**13.** He gets Garvey to leave Kel alone after he catches the boy and Vinson locked together in a dark corner during Beltaine's. The image almost scars him for life, but the looks of sheer terror on the boys' faces and the look of fury on Joren's when they refuse to participate in hazing make it all worth it.

**14.** The moment he loved his magic the most is when Seaver was bleeding into the ground and even with a spear sticking out of his leg, he manages to stumble over and put his friend back together. All the nights studying, the impromptu lessons by the Lioness, the headaches—it finally paid off.

**15. **Really, between Yuki and Kel, he really thinks that he'll die of an ulcer before he's forty. How do two girls manage to get themselves in life-threatening situations twice in one month? On different sides of the planet?

**16.** It's a good thing that Yuki and Kel are friends—he's seen what damage jealousy can do to relationships, and to be honest, given a choice between his wife and his best friend, he's not sure which he'd choose. Luckily, it looks like he'll never have to.

**17.** It takes him three months to reconcile the fact that Kel and his _cousin_ are dating. It takes him near six to recover when he realizes the implications of Owen's musing about why Kel's suddenly spending her nights in a room that happens to belong to none other than Dom.

**18.** When he finally forces himself to accept the fact that yes, his cousin and best friend are probably having physical relations, he marches over to Dom's room and tells him that he better be planning on marrying Keladry of Mindelan, and soon.

**19.** Naturally, he also expects to be the best man.

**20.** Sometimes, when he's out in the field with mud in his socks and rain soaking through his magic to chill him to the bones, he wonders grumpily whether it would have been better to be a scholar after all. Then, he remembers all the people he's met, all the friends he'd never give up, all the people he's saved—and his answer is quick. _No__way._


	16. Myles of Olau

****_It's been a while-to all who are still reading, thanks. Reviews, as always, are appreciated._

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><p><strong>20 Truths About Myles<strong>

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><p><strong>1.<strong> Ever since he was just a boy trying to understand the ramblings of his philosopher for a father and why his mother refused to let him play with the servant boys, he knew he saw the world more differently than most.

**2. **When he's eleven and forced to try for his shield even though all he wants to do is read, he wonders if it's a blessing or a curse.

**3. **At forty-two, watching the new batch of boys try for their shield—including a purple-eyed tyke with a pert mouth and a penchant for blushing—he's still wondering the same thing.

**4. **He was a squire when Gareth—the Duke now but only a stern-eyed boy then—starts training at the palace. Within days, rumors are spreading of the numerous times Gareth of Naxen has "fallen down," as well as the numerous times he's helped bigger and stronger lads fall as well. One night after supper, Myles sees him nursing a bruised eye and gets him some ice, then proceeds to spend the next hour debating the finer points of the Code of Chivalry—namely, the point that rule that orders nobles to defend their honor privately and then face public shame because of it.

**5. **By the end, they're at an impasse and Myles can't help but admire the iron in the boy's back. He claps him on the shoulder—nevermind that one day, this man will be one of the most powerful nobles in Tortall—and tells him to "hit low," next time. Gareth almost smiles in reply. Almost.

**6. **The irony isn't lost on him when he gives Alan the same advice a few decades later.

**7. **He starts drinking the morning after the Chamber of the Ordeal, because everything that happened that night is everything he hates, and the title of "knight" isn't worth the last eight years he spent trying to bend his life to a Code he doesn't believe in.

**8. **He's well on his way to alcohol poisoning when Gareth—now Duke Gareth—visits him at Olau and asks him to become a history teacher at Corus. He laughs in the Duke's face—it helps that he's already drunk—and almost closes the door, but despite being younger, or perhaps because he's younger, the Duke muscles his way into the room and refuses to leave until he agrees. Myles thinks wryly that while Gareth of Naxen isn't much for verbal appreciation, he knows how to thank a man. Even if it is a couple years and a couple bottles too late.

**9. **He knows it's cliché to keep drinking so he doesn't have to see the boys training to a Code he doesn't agree with, but the buzzing in his head is so nice that he can't help it. He's always been weak, that way.

**10. **Prince Jonathan will make a great king, he suspects when the boy actually _thinks_ about his lesson on Chivalry rather than dismissing it like so many before him.

**11. **He wonders if he had tried just a bit harder, if he could have kept the darkness in Alex at bay. There's no answer to that question, and it invariably leads him back to his liquor bottle. Wine stopped being strong enough a long time ago.

**12. **Just because he drinks too much doesn't mean he doesn't see what's going on around him. He was the first to suspect Roger, the first to suspect Alanna, the first to suspect Alex. Unfortunately, suspicions aren't anything without proof, and all he can be is a guide, a supporter. Somewhere along the way, that stops being a problem.

**13. **He's out of shape, but he's always had a knack for horseback riding that never leaves him. Sometimes, when he's vacationing, he just rides and rides and rides, until his backside is so bruised he can't bear the pain anymore.

**14. **There's something special about Alan, and it's not just because he's really a she, nor is it because she managed to open the doors to a ruin he'd thought impenetrable. There's something special about her because she's managed to do what he could not—she's reconciled herself to the code even though her very existence proves it faulty.

**15. **Eleni Cooper is the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, and she makes him wish he'd followed through with all his vows to start up combat training again. Luckily, she doesn't care.

**16. **She makes him stop drinking, and holds his hand when he shivers, trying to remember that he doesn't need wine to be happy, that he'll live longer without the alcohol in his system.

**17. **He adopts her in name, Coram rides with her, and they accept the fact that they'll have to share the role as her adopted father. Her sire was never in the competition.

**18. **He's always had a soft spot for animals, and despite the fact that Faithful is no animal, he always has a bit of cream for the cat.

**19.** He writes a book on Chivalry, purely for himself. Somehow, it becomes the most popular read in all of Tortall. Again, the irony doesn't escape him.

**20. **Sir Myles of Olau was born several decades too early. He belongs in the Alanna's generation, King Jonathan's generation, George Cooper's generation. He might have been a legend had he fought at their side against Roger and against tradition. Then again, without him to guide, to teach, to direct, perhaps they would not have had the resources to do what they did. Besides, Official Spymaster of Tortall isn't a bad title either.


	17. Francis of Nond

**20 Truths About Francis**

**1.** Ever since his giant of a father looked at him with disgust and told him he was weak, Francis has been determined to prove himself invulnerable. And if he can't be invulnerable, he'd be silent. If it wasn't for the efforts of his shy, too-young mother, who loved poetry and beauty and her blonde son more than her own life, he would have succeeded too. As it was, he gained a healthy distrust in people he had to crane his neck to look in the eyes, which was, at his height, most everyone.

**2.** This greatly hampers his abilities to make friends when he arrives at the palace, and his icy eyes and determination not to seem weak catches the attention of the kind of boys who try their best to break his will. It's a lose-lose situation, and Francis stops writing poetry and seeing the beauty in sunsets.

**3.** He's considering breaking the code—it's gotten _that_ bad, and he's beginning to fear for his life—when Raoul of Goldenlake swoops down like a huge bear and chases away his oppressors.

**4.** Francis isn't quite sure what to think of the big boy who's so stubbornly trying to get to know him. He avoids him successfully for the better part of a day, and then Raoul catches him in the stables. He looks hurt. Francis caves.

**5.** Of course, Raoul insists that he get to know Alex, Gary, and even the bloody _Prince_, and suddenly Francis can no longer be invulnerable or silent, because Gary makes him laugh and Jonathan will make him talk if he tries to be the quiet one.

**6.** They soon find that while he is the weakest physically, Francis can whip all of them in the writing and reading arts. "How do you do it?" Gary asked admiringly, watching him tear through the night's assignment in minutes. Francis just shrugs. They don't need to know about his love for words. Yet.

**7.** He's light on his feet and while his size gives him a disadvantage, he's in no way an easy opponent. With all the training his father forced into him, it would be impossible for him to be. Still, the first time he feels like it actually matters is when he dumps a much larger first-year on his rump and the other pages cheer. The first-year turns out to be Ralon of Malvin, and he never lives it down.

**8.** Francis feels at least partly responsible for how Ralon turned out, but his liking for the purple-eyed Alan is far too great for him to sympathize with the bully.

**9.** He knows that there are ugly rumors about him and the bigger boy, rumors that even Prince Jonathan's cold eyes, Gary's sharp tongue, and Raoul's big fists can't fix. It doesn't help that Raoul's too shy to go get a girl and prove the rumors wrong, and as much as the bigger boy denies it, he's never been exposed to this kind of malice and it kills Francis to see him wincing away from rumors and boys too cowardly to say them to his face. The next feast day, he shows a pretty maidservant his poetry and tumbles her in the corner by the stairs. It's disgusting and coarse and he feels dirty for showing her his poetry—but the rumors stop.

**10. **He's always been closest to Raoul, and Alan starts out as Gary's charge, so he doesn't expect them to become anything more than good acquaintances. He is pleasantly surprised when the younger boy runs up to him beet-red and asks if he knows any tricks to help him beat older, stronger pages. This is before Ralon starts targeting him, and one of the signs that alerted him to the bully was that Alan stopped asking for his help. _Stubborn boy._

**11.** Out of all of the pages in their group, he is the only one who ever suspected Alan's secret. It was the first time the boys went swimming and he saw Alan blushing furiously as he, (she?), looked away and some part of him thought, _girl._ Of course, like any sane, rational page, he laughed off the thought. What kind of girl would ever try for her shield?

**12.** He's not often honest towards himself. He refuses to accept that his poetry is beautiful, that he has a masterful grasp of language, or that he commands just as much respect among the Mithren Priests as Raoul does among the combat teachers. He does, however, allow himself to realize that one day, after he's done proving that he can be a knight, he might be a scholar. Maybe.

**13.** It's too bad he never gets that far. Really. Had he lived, he would have written great epics regarding Alanna the Lioness and the legends who surrounded her. Instead, she was left with sappy ballads proclaiming her as a giantess nearly seven feet tall with arms of iron and eyes of flame.

**14.** Francis never met Roger. It's one of the injustices of the world that victims often never meet their murderers.

**15.** He might never have joined in Alanna's fight against the Duke of Conte, but his death led to her grasping control over her magic—at least, in time to heal Jonathan—so in the end, Francis did play his part in overthrowing the evil sorcerer.

**16.** The Sweating Sickness felt like fire burning up his insides, but all he could think about was big, hearty Raoul shivering in the bed just a couple feet away and he couldn't even muster up the energy for a smile.

**17.** When he was delirious, he screamed and mumbled. The maid who tended them was later laughed at when she told her peers that the blonde boy in the fifth bed was reciting the most beautiful verse she'd ever heard.

**18.** When the body is unconscious, the subconscious takes control, and after years of repression with only the occasion verse to satisfy his inner poet, his subconscious was vicious, wild, and beautiful. One of the greatest tragedies of the Sickness was that no one was ever able to write it down.

**19.** The last thing he thought before he slipped off was—_I wonder if the Peaceful Realms have sunsets?_ The last thing he saw was sparks dancing across his eyelids. Then, he slipped away.

**20. **The history books don't mention him, just as they conveniently leave out how King Jonathan the Great once loved his Lioness, and how the real Spymaster of Tortall used to be the Rogue. Alanna, Raoul, Gary, and Jonathan, however, remember, and mourn every year. His grave is forever scented with a dozen different flowers, and his name whispered to the children of legends. In that way, he is immortalized. Just how he would have wanted it.


	18. Owen of Jesslaw

**20 Truths about Owen of Jesslaw**

**1.** Owen of Jesslaw hated his name for the longest time. Not his surname—he'd been raised to be proud of his redheaded, boisterous family, but Owen? He knew he needed a couple scars to counteract that blow.

**2.** He's idealistic in the way only little boys grown up in a family full of older and younger boy-cousins can be, which is why he's so slow to catch on that the ice-eyed boy from Stone Mountain's actually picking on him, but incredibly quick to jump into the fight.

**3.** Of all people, it's a girl—The Girl—that saves him. Owen hasn't had much experience with girls—ever since his mother—well, ever since he swore hatred and vengeance against hill bandits everywhere.

**4.** Back to girls—he's glad she's his first. First crush, first awkward kiss that turns him bright red and is never mentioned. Ever.

**5.** Even at her wedding, when he stands to congratulate her, they both blush. Kel because Dom's raising an eyebrow at the two, Owen because he can remember the first time he saw her, fighting and fierce and _noble, _her dress swirling around her.

**6.** It's what he thinks his mother might have looked liked. He doesn't remember anymore.

**7.** After one comment too many, Neal, Faleron, and Roald—the only three brave or stupid enough to attempt giving a Jesslaw "the talk"—attempt to educate Owen on the protocols of male-female interaction. Especially when it comes to Kel.

**8.** Owen almost gets beheaded when Neal says that Kel isn't quite a normal girl, and he innocently lets slip the fact that he might have crashed into her room while she was changing, and the truth is quite the contrary.

**9.** He still maintains that the three boys were jealous.

**10.** He's never one of those natural swordsmen, or brilliant archers, but he's talented in a way that only boundless energy and just as much good-cheer can be.

**11.** Privately, Wyldon thanks Mithros that The Girl brought Jesslaw to his attention. It would have been such a waste to keep him under Master Oakbridge. The boy is good with animals. Not wild magic good, but definitely worth keeping around.

**12.** He reconsiders that last bit after realizing that his daughter and his squire are spending an unnecessarily extended amount of time together.

**13.** Vivienne threatens to leave him if he does anything to spoil their budding romance. Margarry is the youngest of four girls and if he keeps all her romantic partners away, she'll never grow up.

**14.** Owen and Margarry snicker at her speech, shamelessly eavesdropping behind a servant's door. When the voices fade, however, and Owen gets a good luck at how pretty Margarry is when she blushes, his merriment fades and he chokes. Literally.

**15.** He goes to Neal, (of all people), first, only to find that the older boy has not yet quite forgiven him for all the stunts he pulled as a page. Roald's his next target, but after seeing him and his princess interacting, Owen figures he'd be better off asking the Stump himself.

**16.** He finally uses his brain and asks Kel. She laughs, and Owen feels the fist in his chest loosen just a little.

**17.** She sends him back with flowers and advice on what never to say in front of Margarry, and what never-ever-unless-you-want-to-end-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-a-lance to say in front of Wyldon.

**18.** When he and Margarry get married, he dances with her first as a thank-you. Margarry is just a bit put out, but she recovers when Kel shoves Owen back in her direction with a wink, and a very un-Kel like, "He's all yours, now." The two women become fast friends.

**19.** People think he's so brave during the Scanran War for committing treason to save a village of peasants, but he always responds to the simpering with a grin far too cheerful for a grown man whose seen war and much worse. "It's Kel. Who wouldn't follow her anywhere?"

**20.** Owen never really talks to anyone about his mother. Not Kel, not the Stump, not his wife. It isn't until he has a baby girl of his own who loves to ride and scamper throughout the countryside that he remembers the dangers that come with being a Jesslaw girl—all energy and fearless cheer, and not nearly enough sense. Then again, she's half Margarry, so maybe he doesn't have to worry after all. Maybe.


	19. Buriram Tourakom

**20 Truths about Buriram**

**1.** She was raised not to mourn those who died defending their charges. It does not keep young Buri, barely a woman and with only a year in the field, from hurting when her mother and brother die defending Thayet's mother.

**2.** It does, however, keep her from freezing with grief. Thayet needs her. More importantly, she needs Thayet out and alive because before she is Buri, she is Buriram Tourakom, the guard and servant of the royal family. She is K'miri, and the pain might be eating her inside out, but she will fight on.

**3.** She doesn't smile until they meet Liam Ironarm. The K'miri have an—interesting—history with the Shang Dragon. She's heard the legends.

**4**. Alanna is short and fiery and everything Thayet is not, and perhaps that is why Buri is so cold to her at first, because finally, finally here is a woman who she doesn't need to protect. Alanna is not her charge. Alanna is her friend.

**5.** She tries to explain this to the Lioness, and then realizes that she might as well try to teach Alanna to fly. "Wait until you have kids," she vows, and Alanna laughs and assures her that, Goddess willing, that will never happen.

**6.** Three children and a very mischievous set of twins later, Buri still smirks at the harried redhead who once swore off men and love and domestic life.

**7.** The first time she meets George Cooper, she's bitter because here's a man who sees her for her, not a stocky woman under Thayet's shadow, and he belongs to Alanna. The first time she meets Jonathan, she's looking through the eyes of a protector, too busy wondering if he's worthy of Thayet to really see him as a man. The first time she meets Raoul, he's hiding in the curtains from the party and she laughs, really laughs at the sight.

**8.** They then proceed to spend the entire night discussing the benefits of longbows over crossbows and vice versa. It's the loudest curtain anyone at the party has ever seen.

**9.** Buri knows she's dangerous, has seen the deadliness of her blades and fists, the ferocity of her blows when she is truly in danger. What she doesn't know is that when she's screaming a battle cry and rushing into battle, it's almost enough to send her unlucky opponent scurrying for a hole to hide in.

**10.** Raoul knows this. He also knows that when she's cursing in K'miri and god-knows-what-else as she tries to disarm Alanna and the two are sweating and borderline frightening, Buri glows.

**11.** When he tells her this, Buri dismisses it as poetic nonsense. Then it hits her that it's Raoul delivering what may be poetic nonsense, but a very real compliment, and blushes. She doesn't look at him in the face for a week.

**12.** If someone had told her that she would eventually appoint Evin Larse, of all people as her replacement in the commander of the Queen's Riders, or that he'd actually do a damn good job, she would have laughed. Then again, she never expected to be madly in love with a giant of a man who smiled too much and hated parties as much as she did either.

**13.** She never lets her hair down on purpose—it's impractical and annoying—so when a hill bandit accidentally cuts her bindings loose and the black locks tumble down her back, she cuts him down with particular ferocity. The men in her group, watching the fearsome Buri suddenly smaller and much for feminine underneath waves of soft hair, are less upset.

**14.** She likes Keladry. Really, she does. Especially after she finds out that the rumors swirling around about the girl and her knightmaster are completely unfounded.

**15. ** Personally, among all her godchildren, Roald's her favorite. There's just something about the too-serious little boy with the shock of black hair that reminds her of her own brother from what seems to be a lifetime ago.

**16.** Buri doesn't know how to joust. Then again, she has all of her married life to learn from one of the best. And if he doesn't teach her, well, his former squire definitely will.

**17. ** Raoul's best friend is as different from him as cider is from pie, but Buri finds his wit and sharp tongue, if not preferable to Raoul's good humor, somewhat refreshing after spending too much time in court.

**18.** She wants a likeness done of her mother and brother. She doesn't care if it's unorthodox—she can still see their faces perfectly in her mind, but she wants something concrete, something that will last when her memory fades. And somehow, she feels, once she sees her mother and brother again, even only in a painting, she'll be able to say goodbye.

**19.** Thayet's her best friend and yet not her friend at all. Buri tries to explain this to the woman once, and Thayet refuses to speak to her for a week. Buri shrugs it off and tells herself that it doesn't hurt, that if Thayet can't accept that Buri will always put her charge first, then so mote it be.

**20.** Then again, she thinks when Thayet storms at her for being stupid and taking an arrow that she could have dodged if she hadn't been distracted by her queen spearing a bandit through the throat—Thayet has been more than her charge for a long time. It doesn't mean, however, that she can ever be equals with her queen—the K'miri are all about loyalty, and Buri will go down protecting the woman she's grown to respect and admire. Even when she doesn't need protecting anymore.


End file.
